INCLUSION DAILY
EXPRESS

Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights,
self-determination and the movement toward full community inclusion around
the world.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003Year IV, Edition 166

This front page features 8 news and information items,
each preceded by a number (#) symbol.Click on the"Below the Fold"
link at the bottom of this page for 41 more news items.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:"I believe my brother made the right
decision."--President George W. Bush on the decision by Florida
Governor Jeb Bush to block Terri Schiavo's starvation last week (First
story)

"There is a huge work force out there that wants to work and is
willing to work."--Chuck McHale, president of McHale Catering, which
has hired two employees that have disabilities and is encouraging other
businesses to do the same (Second story)

TAMPA, FLORIDA--President George W. Bush
said Tuesday morning that he agrees with the October 21 decision by his
brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, to order an end to Terri Schiavo's
starvation last week.

"I believe my brother made the right decision," President Bush said in
response to a reporter's question during a nationally-televised news conference
at the White House.

Monday night, Michael Schiavo appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" to
explain why he wants his wife to die starve to death, a wish that led to her
feeding tube being removed by court order on October 15.

"I love my wife and I'm going to follow her wishes and nothing's going
to stop me," said Mr. Schiavo, who is also Terri's legal guardian.

When Larry King asked Mr. Schiavo about the other woman with whom he has
been living for several years, and with whom he has sired two children, Schiavo
answered, "I'm lucky. I have two great women to love." Schiavo has refused to
divorce his wife.

Mr. Schiavo claims his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive
"by artificial means" sometime before she collapsed and was without oxygen for
several minutes on February 25, 1990. While some doctors have said Terri is in
a "persistent vegetative state" from which she will not recover, others argue
that she is alert, responsive and could benefit from rehabilitation -- which
her husband has refused for many years.

Schiavo first petitioned the court to have Terri's feeding tube removed
in 1998, six years after winning a $1.2 million malpractice insurance
settlement. Several court decisions have supported his decision.

"Terri's Law" was passed in a special session by the Florida
legislature, over-ruling the courts and giving Governor Bush authority to order
Terri's feeding tube reinserted six days after it was removed. Bush's action
came after concerted activism by disability and right-to-life groups. Schiavo
and his attorney plan to challenge the constitutionality of the new law,
claiming that the legislative and executive branches cannot go against the
courts.

During the interview, Mr. Schiavo told King he believes Terri's parents
want his guardianship revoked so they can have what's left of an insurance
settlement that has since dwindled to around $50,000.

Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, claim that Mr. Schiavo has
spent more than one-half of the money on legal fees fighting in the courts to
have Terri's gastronomy tube removed, rather than on rehabilitative therapies
as he had originally promised.

Schiavo also told King he believes his wife's collapse was caused by a
potassium imbalance brought on by bulimia, an eating disorder in which the
person purposefully vomits to keep weight low.

Last Friday, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden told Fox News that
it was extremely rare for a person in her 20s to have a heart attack from low
levels of potassium. Baden suggested that a bone scan done in 1991 shows
evidence of possible trauma to Terri's head and to other parts of her body.

The Schindlers have long suspected that Mr. Schiavo may have caused
Terri's initial collapse. The state's Advocacy Center for Persons with
Disabilities is currently investigating the Schindlers' claims that Schiavo has
abused their daughter, and has prevented visits from family members and
priests.

"They are conducting a pretty comprehensive investigation into past and
current allegations of abuse, allegations that Terri is being abused, neglected
and exploited," said Schindler spokesperson Pamela Hennessy. "They're going to
be looking over the current condition that she is in, the fact that therapy has
been withheld, the fact that she's kept in isolation. All these things are
abuses."

The St. Petersburg Times published a story Tuesday explaining both sides
of the issue and the terminology being used to describe Terri's condition.

The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine also issued a statement
explaining the differences between "vegetative" and "minimally conscious"
states. The organization suggested that Terri's conscious state be evaluated on
a regular basis, because function has been known to return to people in her
condition.

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY--A network of business organizations and
employment services agencies launched a new effort Tuesday to encourage
employers to hire workers with disabilities.

The group, the Northern Kentucky chapter of the Kentucky Business
Leadership Network, plans to meet once each month to share the message that it
makes good business sense to employ people with disabilities .

"Typically, the agencies have done all this work, going to businesses,
knocking on doors and making their pitch," said Tom Fricke, who is blind and
whose firm consults on the Americans with Disabilities Act. "Now we're trying
to get business to knock on doors and tell people their experiences."

"There is a huge work force out there that wants to work and is willing
to work,'' said Chuck McHale, president of McHale Catering which has hired two
employees that have disabilities.

VINELAND, NEW JERSEY--The
following four paragraphs are excerpts from a story in Tuesday's Press of
Atlantic City:

Some came in wheelchairs, others had canes and walkers, and still others
had disabilities that weren't visible.

Close to 100 people - disabled people seeking information and service
providers and agency representatives - attended the third annual Cumberland
County Disability Awareness Day on Saturday at the Ramada Inn.

Freeholder Mary Gruccio, an elementary school principal in Vineland,
cited her support of an all-abilities playground where children with and
without disabilities could be together.

"When you put a child with disabilities in a classroom, most children
are supportive and kind," Gruccio said. "A program like this will enable all
children and adults to be together and to understand each other."

TORONTO, ONTARIO--In her latest column for the Toronto Star, Helen
Henderson encouraged voters in Toronto's upcoming election to keep in mind the
needs of people with disabilities.

"We need councillors and school trustees who pay more than lip service
to accessible cities, men and women who understand that investing in children
and adults with disabilities pays off big-time," Henderson wrote in her
Saturday column.

"We need elected representatives who will work with the new regime at
Queen's Park to improve transportation, education and other vital pieces of a
framework that supports inclusion."

"We need people who recognize that giving kids with disabilities the
help they need early lets them realize their full potential as contributing
members of society."

"To do otherwise robs them of the tools they need to be
self-sufficient."

WASHINGTON, DC--The U.S. Department of
Justice announced Monday that two of the nation's largest car rental agencies
have agreed to improve access for passengers with disabilities on airport
shuttle buses.

Under the agreement, Alamo Car Rent-A-Car LLC and National Car Rental
System Inc. will have the next 60 days to equip each company-owned airport
location with a shuttle bus designed to carry a person in a wheelchair or
scooter between the terminal and the lot where rental vehicles are kept. The
companies will also make sure all newly purchased or leased buses that carry 17
or more people are equipped in the same way, as well as 10 percent of smaller
buses.

Alamo and National operate under the corporate name Vanguard Car Rental
USA and have more than 3,200 rental locations in 83 countries.

"Our customers will be able to experience this expanded commitment
within the weeks ahead," said Jeff Parell, chief operating officer for
Vanguard.

---

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ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA--Americans across the country are mourning the
deaths of Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila, and their daughter
Marcia, who died Friday in an airplane crash in northern Minnesota. The plane's
pilot and co-pilot, along with three of Wellstone's staff aides, also perished
in the accident, which took place between re-election campaign stops.

Wellstone, 58, considered by colleagues as a liberal "warrior", had
championed many causes related to civil rights and health care since he took
office in 1991.

In February of this year, Wellstone announced that he had been diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis, but that he would continue his re-election campaign.
"I have a strong mind -- although there are some that might disagree about that
-- I have a strong body, I have a strong heart, I have a strong soul," he told
reporters.

Previously, Wellstone also said that he had a learning disability that
required him to study harder and take more time to learn in school. Because of
this, as a senator he opposed measures that emphasized standardized test
scores.

"Sen. Wellstone was a strong advocate for people with disabilities
including people with multiple sclerosis," the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society said in an on-line statement. "He frequently sponsored or co-sponsored
legislation that would benefit people with disabilities and people in
poverty."

"Senator Wellstone was a great advocate for people with disabilities and
their families," said Linda Warner, Chair of the Epilepsy Foundation in a press
statement. "His leadership in pursuing mental health parity legislation is an
example of the ways he championed health care for all Americans."

Wellstone considered running for the presidency in 2000, but finally
decided against it, saying a back injury would prevent him from effectively
running the campaign.

The Minnesota Democrat and his wife are survived by their two sons and
six grandchildren.